JD(U) third major ally to snap ties with BJP in last three years

The JD(U) on Tuesday became the third major ally after the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal to snap ties with the BJP after 2019.

Within 18 months of the BJP's second consecutive Lok Sabha election victory, the party had lost two of its oldest allies - Shiv Sena and Akali Dal.

And now, with less than two years left for the next general elections, another major ally JD(U), the biggest in terms of lawmakers, moved out of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar Chief Minister, meet RJD's Tejashwi Yadav

JD(U)'s George Fernandes was once the convener of the NDA but the Nitish Kumar-led party snapped ties with the BJP in 2013 after Narendra Modi emerged as the main face of the saffron party.

Nitish Kumar walked out of the RJD-led Grand Alliance in 2017 and again joined hands with the BJP. The JD(U) and the BJP fought the 2020 assembly election together but the ties remained strained and the two parted ways on Tuesday, the second time in nine years.

While SAD severed ties in protest against the three farm laws, Shiv Sena dumped the BJP and allied with NCP and Congress in Maharashtra in 2019 over the issue of the chief ministerial post.

Bihar: BJP to hold a state-wide protest against Nitish's exit from alliance

Though a big faction of Shiv Sena led by rebel-leader Eknath Shinde joined hands with BJP and helped it come to power in Maharashtra again.

Between 2014 to 2019 - Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) - were the major ones to move out of the alliance.